Shutter-tripper for cameras.



'No. 690,939. Patented Jan. l4, I902.

B. FARIES. SHUTTER TBIPPER FOR CAMERAS.

(Application filed Aug. 10, 1900.)

(No Model.)

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. UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ROBERT FARIES, OF DECATUR, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO FARIES MANUFAC- TURINGCOMPANY, OF DECATUR, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS.

SHUTTER-TRIPPER FOR CAMERAS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 690,939, dated January14, 1902.

Application filed August 10, 1900. Serial No. 26,455. (No model.) A

To aZl whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, ROBERT FARIES, of the city of Decatur, county ofMacon, and State of Illinois, have invented a certain new and usefulShutter-Tripper for Cameras, of which the following is a specification.

This invention involves the idea of storing force to be usedautomatically at an approximately predetermined time for the purpose oftripping the shutter of a photographic camera; and its object is toenable the phocylinder of the tripper.

tographer to include himself in thepicture he is taking.

The invention is exemplified in the structure hereinafter described, andit is defined in the appended claims.

The invention is more particularly applicable to camera-shutters whichare opened and closed bya spring previously set by hand and held intension by a detent or trigger which is usually tripped by the finger ofthe operator or by air-pressure through the me dium of the well-knownpneumatic release. It frequently happens that the photographer wouldlike toinclude himself in his picture as in a group, for instance-andthis he is enabled to do by substituting my device for the ordinaryhand-bulb.

In the drawings forming part of this specification, Figure l-is arepresentation of my improvement connected with a shutter, force beingstored in the shutter-tripper to be subsequently imparted to theshutter-releaser. Fig. 2 is a representation of the side of the tripperopposite that shown in Fig. 1, the condition of the tripper being thatwhich exists when the force in the tripper has been applied to theshutter-release. Fig. 3 represents the tripper turned half-way betweenthe position shown in Fig. 1 and that shown in Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is acentral sectionlengthwise of the Fig. 5 is a section lengthwise throughthe head of the pistonstem and crosswise of the cock-plug therein.

Fig. 6 is a section through the head of the piston-stem lengthwise ofthe plug. Fig. 7

is the same as Fig. 6, except that the parts are abnormally enlarged,the taper of the plug is'exaggerated, and a space between the plug andthe bearing thereof is shown larger than actually exists. Fig. 7 isintroduced to illustrate a peculiarityin the operation of my inventionwhich is not very apparent in a tripper of ordinary size and proportion.

A cylinder is shown at 1. At 2 is shown a cap for the cylinder, whichserves as a guide for a pistonstem and an abutment for a spring, and at3 is shown a closed end of the cylinder. At 4 is shown a divided bandwhich embraces the cylinder and is clamped thereon by means of aset-screw 5. A tripbar 6 is attached to the divided band 4, and itextends parallel with the cylinder beyond the capped end thereof. Arectangular bend 7 on the extended end of bar 6 forms a head thatengages the trigger of the tripper. A piston 9 in cylinder 1 has ahollow pistonstem 8, which extends through the cap of the cylinder andhas on its extended end avalved head 11. The cock-plug 12 of head 11 istapered to conform to correspondingly-tapered bearings, and itssmallerend extends beyond the head and is screw-threaded andlongitudinallyslottedorsplit. Awasher 16 fits over the small end of theplug and against a side of the head, and a finger-nut 17 is screwed ontothe plug againstthe washer. The large end of plug 12 also extends beyondthe plug, and a trigger 14 is fastened in such large extended end. Inone side of the head 11. is a stop-pin 20, (shown in Fig. 1,) and whenthe trigger 14 bears against this stop-pin the hole 13 of the plug isout of line with the passage through the valve-head, and the passagethrough the piston'stem is closed. A knob 18 on the end of head 11provides for the attachment of a flexible tube 19, and the opposite endof such flexible tube is connected with the shutter-releasing cylinder21 of ashutter 22.

The piston 9 has a packing that cups toward the end 3 of the cylinder,and the bore 8'0f the piston-stem communicates with the space betweenend 3 and the piston. A spring 10 surrounds the piston-stem between thepiston and the cap 2 of the cylinder, and the tendency of the spring isto force the piston toward end 3 of the cylinder. The pistonstem isprismatic or ribbed, as shown in Fig. 1. It hasa sliding bearing in cap2, which conforms to its cross-sectional configuration, and it has areciprocating movement in the cylinder when in operation. The trigger14: has a definite path of motion to and from the capped end of thecylinder, and the end 7 of trip-bar 6 is set in the path of thereciprocating movement of the trigger. The trigger swings with thevalve-plug in addition to its reciprocating motion, closing theair-passage when it is in the position shown in Figs. 1 and 4 andopening the air-passage when it is in the position shown in Figs. 2 and3.

In operating the tripper the triggeris turned to open the airpassage,the piston-stem is pulled out of the cylinder as far as it will come,the trigger is turned to close the airpassage, and the head of thepiston-stem. is quickly released. Then the shutter is set, the tripperis laid on the camera or otherwise supported, and the operator is freeto take a position in front of his camera. As the piston is drawn towardthe capped end of the cylinder the spring 10 is put under tension andair passes into the space between end 3 and the piston. When theair-passage is closed and the piston-stem suddenly released, the springcompresses the air behind the piston and forms a support that but forleakage would eltectually prevent further expansion of the spring; butthe fit of the plug in the head is not air-tight, and air graduallywastes through the piston-stem and the head thereof, and the springforces the piston inward at a speed dependent on the rapidity of theescape of the air. When the head is released after drawing out thepiston and the spring established an air-cushion capable ofcounteracting the tension of the spring, there is some space between thetrigger; and the head of the trip-bar, somewhat as shown in Figs. 1 and4, and the time required for the trigger to encounter the trip-bar andbe swung to the position necessary to bring the plughole in line withthe bore of the piston-stem is what the operator may avail himself of intaking a position. This time may be varied by shifting the clamp-band onthe cylinder and setting the head of the tripper-bar nearer to orfarther from the cap of the cylinder, and it may also be varied byloosening 0r tightening the nut on the plug, so as to increase ordiminish the wastage of air. The last-mentioned operation is illustratedin Fig. 7, where the nut is loosened sufficiently to show a spacebetween the plug and its bearlugs.

The nut 17 should hold whatever position on the threaded stem of theplug it is given, so that the wastage may not be unintentionally varied,and to assure this the stem 15 is split or slotted, as shown, and spreadto exert a slight degree of pressure on the nut. The tendency of thesplit stem to spread holds the nut from accidental displacement, andwhenever through wear or other cause the nut shows a tendency to shifton the stem the stem may be spread to an extentto overcome the tendency.

Air may be admitted behind the piston by collapse of the packing in casethe piston should be moved out with the valve plug closed.

The invention comprises as essential elements a spring, an air-valvethat wastes to permit motion in the spring, and a connection orcommunication between the spring and a shutter-releaser, whereby thespring will release the shutter at a predetermined point in itsmovement. In this instance the communication between the spring and theshutterreleaser is a tube through which air is forced by the action ofthe spring; but in its broadest sense my invention is not confined tothis or any other specific means for transmitting the force of thespring to the shutter-releaser.

The cylinder contains a quantity of compressed air at the time thetrigger opens the air-passage and this air at once acts through the tube19 on the cylinder 21 of the shutterrelease.

I claim- 1. A shutter-tripper comprising a chamber adapted to contain afluid, such chamber having an escape-hole, spring-actuated means tendingto force the fluid out of the chamber and means for transferring theforce of the spring to a shutter-releaser.

2. In a shutter-tripper, the combination of a cylinder, a piston in thecylinder, a hollow stem for the piston extending out of the cylinder, aspring tending to press the piston toward the inner end of the cylinder,means for controlling the wastage of air from the inner end of thecylinder as the spring acts on the piston, and means for transmittingmotion of the piston-stem to a shutter-releaser at a predetermined pointin the movement of the spring.

3. In a shutter-tripper, the combination of a cylinder, a piston in thecylinder, a hollow stem for the piston extending out of the cylinder, aspring tending to force the piston toward the inner end of the cylinder,a valve in the outer end of the piston-stem regulating the escape of airfrom the space behind the piston as the spring acts on the piston, andmeans for transmitting motion from the piston-stem to ashutter-rele'aser at a predetermined point in the movement of thespring.

4. In a shutter-tripper, the combination of a cylinder, a piston in thecylinder, a hollow stem for the piston extending out of the cylinder, aspring tending to force the piston toward the inner end of the cylinder,a rockable air-plug crosswise of the extended end of the piston-stem, atrigger on the plug, anobstruction on the cylinder in the path of thetrigger and a tube to convey air from the piston-stem to ashutter-releaser when the plug is turned by the trigger. 9

5. In a. shutter-tripper, the combination of 1 air from the piston-stemto a shutter-release! a cylinder, a piston in the cylinder, a hollowwhen the trip-bar rocks the trigger-finger and piston-stem extendingoutside the cylinder, a opens the air-plug. tapered airplug crosswise ofthe extended In testimony whereof I sign my namein the 5 end of thepiston-stem, the small end of which presence of two subscribingWitnesses.

plug is split and threaded, a nut on the threaded end of the plug tovary the close- ROBERT BABIES ness of the fit of the plug, a trigger inthe Witnesses: plug, a. trip-bar on the cylinder with its head MILTONJOHNSON, J12, 10 in the path of the trigger and a, tube to carry 1 L. P.GRAHAM.

